7
"Ma'am, please calm down," the girl in the house was saying to Hailey.
Hailey paced around, agitated. She didn't know why this-thing-had come back again. She hated it; anything she touched shattered into a million pieces, including her boyfriend, Aaron. It had been terrible, trying to explain what had happened to him to his family.
It was all that Duke Crocker's fault, she thought. She'd heard from the Guard that he'd been the one to somehow release all the Troubles on Haven again, and yet he'd managed to walk away scot-free.
The Guard didn't like the fact that Duke was allowed to roam the streets either, she knew. God only knows what else he could release, they'd said. But their leader, whoever he was, wouldn't let them kill him.
She heard a car pulling up outside. There was that blonde policewoman, Audrey Parker, climbing out of a blue Bronco along with a tall thin man that she recognized as Audrey's partner, Nathan Wuornos.
Hailey exhaled a small sigh of relief. Maybe she could fix whatever it was that had set off her Trouble again. She'd been able to have a normal life again, but now her-problem-had flared again. She'd been shopping and gently touched a figurine and it had shattered into powder. She'd done her best to get home, but not before she'd managed to disintegrate a store door, her car, and the neighbor's mailbox that she'd touched to keep from stumbling.
A second vehicle arrived, and she saw Duke Crocker getting out, along with a woman.
Hailey could see the concern in the Guard members' face at the sight of him. She'd heard that not only had he released the Troubles on Haven, he was a Trouble-Killer-in the literal sense-he killed people to stop their Troubles in their family. Was he here to kill her?
"And all because I complained about a drink," she muttered.
"I'm sorry?" the girl on guard with her in the house said.
"Nothing," Hailey answered. "I guess they're out of options for me."
Outside, two Guard members stopped Audrey from entering.
"What's the matter? You can't fix her anymore so you brought him?" he jerked a thumb at Crocker.
"I'm just here to help," Duke protested.
"Yeah, we know how Crockers help people. Help 'em right into a coffin," the other man retorted.
"I am a Crocker, but I do not kill," Prudence replied. "Now please, step aside. We are here to help, not hurt."
"I've never seen you before in Haven," the first man who'd spoken said, surveying Prudence. "You his sister or something?"
"We are-related," Prudence answered truthfully. "Now, please, step aside."
The two men grudgingly moved, and Audrey, Nathan and Prudence stepped forward, but they stepped in front of Duke, blocking his progress.
"But you can stay here," the man said.
Duke opened his mouth to protest, but Audrey spoke.
"Duke, you and Nathan can stay out here while Prudence and I talk to Hailey," she stated.
"Audrey, I-" Nathan began, but Audrey gave him a look, and he shut up.
"You can keep Duke company," Audrey placated, but Nathan caught her underlying meaning: I need you to stay with Duke to make sure he stays safe, and he nodded.
"We're here if you need us," he replied, and Audrey and Prudence headed inside.
Inside, the house was a litter of shrapnel that used to be furniture and belongings, and the two stepped gingerly through the debris.
"Hailey?" Audrey called.
"We're in here," the girl with the Guard called.
Audrey and Prudence went into the living room, where they found Hailey, pacing restlessly, the girl standing by the fireplace with a rifle in her hands.
"What'd you bring Duke Crocker for? Is he here to kill me?" Hailey burst out.
"What? No, no, Duke is not here to kill you," Audrey placated. "Now, what happened, Hailey? You were doing so well with managing your Trouble."
"I-I don't know," Hailey protested. "I was out shopping and all I did was just touch a ceramic statue, and it just-shattered," she went on, showing them the cut on her fingers from the glass. "And-and then it just got worse and worse." She noticed Prudence. "Who are you?"
"I am here to help you, Hailey," Prudence replied in a gentle tone. "Give me your hand."
"No, I can't. I'll kill you if I touch you," Hailey said.
"You will not kill me," Prudence told her.
"Prudence, are you sure about this?" Audrey asked nervously.
Prue turned her silvery eyes on Audrey, her expression clinical.
"I thought you claimed to help the Troubled. Are you afraid of her touch as well?"
"No," Audrey said. "I'm immune to Troubles."
Prudence nodded. "As I thought. Then take her other hand. I need you to help keep her calm."
Audrey stepped forward, and Hailey placed her hand in hers.
Prudence began to whisper in a language that none of them could understand, and reached out and grabbed Hailey's hurt hand, squeezing the wound on her fingers, reopening the cuts.
"That hurts!" Hailey yelped.
"Stop it!" the girl with the Guard protested, and moved forward to grab Prudence's shoulder.
"No, do not!" Prudence cried as her hand landed on Prudence's shoulder-and then was gone in a red mist as she shattered.
Audrey and Hailey both cried out, but Prudence held stubbornly to Hailey's hand, her eyes on Audrey's face, the girl's blood sprayed over her face and body.
"I can take a curse-but I also take it on before I conquer it," she gasped, her body shaking. "This is one that my family killed?"
"Duke said that he accidentally released it on her," Audrey told her.
"As I thought," Prudence got out. "It's stronger now than it was when it was first made."
Prue stopped shaking, and she released Hailey's hand.
"Touch something now," she told Hailey.
Hailey stretched out a trembling hand, and cautiously touched a photograph on the mantel. The picture nudged under her touch, and she picked it up with both hands, looking up at Audrey and Prudence.
"It's gone," she smiled timidly. "Thank you!" she cried, reaching out to hug Prudence, but she stepped out of her reach.
"Do not touch me-please," she said, staggering slightly.
"Prudence," Audrey said, concerned. She touched her shoulder, but Prue brushed it off.
"It will-take me some time to absorb this one-because I have also taken on the dead girl's," she uttered. "Just see that no one comes into contact with me for the next few hours." She gave Audrey a cold look. "This was amusement for you and William-inflicting pain and misery on others. Is it still amusing?" she finished, and she walked out of the house.
"What did she mean by that?" Hailey asked.
"Nothing. You'll be all right now, Hailey," Audrey answered, and hurried after Prudence.
Prudence reached the gate.
"What happened, we heard shouting," one of the men said.
"I am afraid that your companion is dead," Prudence told them. "It was a tragic accident, she touched me when she should not have."
"What's that supposed to mean?" the guy said, and reached to jerk Prue around to face him, but Duke stepped forward, grabbing his arm.
"Don't! Don't touch her!" Audrey shouted.
Duke and the man struggled with one another before Nathan separated them.
"Keep your hands off me, Crocker!" the man barked.
"He just saved your life," Audrey told him. "Don't touch her right now, or the same thing that happened to your friend will happen to you."
"What did you do to her?" he yelled at Prudence.
Prudence turned to face him.
"I cured her," she replied, and then continued to walk away.
"What did she say? She cured a Trouble?" the other man gasped, watching her go.
"Is that what happened, Audrey?" Nathan said, staring after Prudence. "She killed Hailey's Trouble, but she didn't kill Hailey?"
Audrey nodded. "But she takes on the Trouble for a while until she absorbs it. So nobody touch her until she says otherwise," she went on. "That's what happened to your friend, she grabbed Prudence while she taking the Trouble from Hailey."
"She can cure Troubles," the man who'd been struggling with Duke said in wonderment, and looked at Duke. "Looks like your family's finally getting it together."
"You leave her alone," Duke warned, and jogged off after Prudence.
"For now," the man said, his eyes narrowed.
"Now we know how Dwight got cured," Nathan muttered.
"Yeah," Audrey murmured, pondering over Prue's words in the house: It is stronger now than when it was first made. Were Troubles able to strengthen? Could they be-alive-in some way? She didn't know, or wasn't able to remember. But she knew one thing; Prudence Stillwater was definitely no ordinary woman.
Maybe she really is a witch, she thought.